UK Ranked 35 out of 200 Countries for Average Broadband ISP Speed UPDATE

New data from research group M-Lab and Cable.co.uk has revealed that for 2018 the United Kingdom delivered an average (mean) broadband download speed of just 18.57Mbps (up from 16.51Mbps in 2017) and ranks 35th fastest in the world (down from 31st) versus 200 other countries.

The research itself stems from information gathered via 160 million speed tests, which were carried out across the world. We note that the average UK speed of 18.57Mbps (Megabits per second) is well below the 46.2Mbps recorded by Ofcom’s recent fixed line broadband speeds report for 2018 (here) and is also way off the 50.16Mbps reported by Ookla’s (Speedtest.net) study published earlier this year (here). Admittedly Ofcom and Ookla used different methodologies to M-Lab but that’s still a big gap.

The M-Lab data is useful for understanding our country’s place in the world, although it’s worth reminding readers that such reports make for a poor gauge when considering the actual availability of faster networks. At present it’s estimated that around 95%+ of premises are within reach of a fixed “superfast broadband” (24Mbps+) service – this should rise to 98% by 2020 – and in at least that respect we’re ahead of most EU states (here).

Crucially somewhere around 45% of home broadband lines in the UK are still connecting via slow pure copper ADSL services, even though faster networks are often available in those same areas (i.e. a lot of people haven’t upgraded due to various reasons such as a lack of awareness, higher prices, fear of switching, satisfaction with their existing package etc.).

Lest we forget that lots of other problems can also skew results extracted from speedtests, such as slow WiFi, consumer package choice or local network congestion (e.g. running a speedtest at the same time as somebody else is downloading a big file). On the other hand, if we assume that other countries will face the same issues then the new ranking remains a useful indicator of progress and take-up, provided it’s taken in the correct context.

Greg Mesch, CityFibre CEO, said:

“Seeing the UK falling even further behind other EU countries [for broadband speed] is depressing but not surprising, given the UK’s lack of investment in fibre to the premises and other nations’ new networks increasingly coming online. This situation must change – and quickly – as successfully rolling out this superior digital infrastructure is critical for the success of the UK economy and our ability to compete internationally.

Companies are now investing billions to bring this technology to the UK, but this will only be successful with the Government’s full support. The place to start is putting a stop to the misleading use of the word fibre in broadband advertising, so that consumers know that when they see fibre, it is a fibre to the premises connection they are buying. Copper is dead: it is time for the UK to embrace full fibre – no ifs, no buts.”

Greg is right to highlight the United Kingdom’s deficiency in “full fibre” (FTTP/H) coverage, which can potentially deliver better than Gigabit speeds (1000Mbps+) to those who want it. Indeed in this respect we are behind most of the EU for FTTP/H coverage and fairly week even for coverage by “ultrafast” (100Mbps+) capable services. Unsurprisingly the top country of Singapore (60.39Mbps) has a lot of FTTH/P.

However, the situation is improving, albeit slowly. The UK government wants 15 million premises to have access to Gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) by 2025 (currently c.1.2 million) and then nationwide to all by 2033 (here), although the latter date is currently just a vague aspiration (i.e. responsibility for 2033 is likely to fall on the shoulders of a future government, which may have other plans).

Nevertheless the groundwork has already been laid. The combination of new regulation stemming from Ofcom’s Strategic Review (details) and direct support from the government, such as via a 5 year business rates holiday on new fibre optic lines, improvements to the Electronic Communications Code (here) and several large funding schemes to support 5G or “full fibre” development (here), are having an impact.

For example, over the past 12-24 months Hyperoptic has said that it now aims to cover 2 million urban premises with FTTH/P by 2022 (aspiration for 5 million by 2025), while Vodafone with Cityfibre will reach 1 million by 2021 (aspiration for up to 5 million by 2025) and Openreach will do 3 million by 2020  (see our ‘Summary of Full Fibre Broadband Plans and Investment‘ for more).

An Openreach Spokesperson said:

“It’s encouraging that this report shows UK broadband speeds have increased 12.5% since 2017.

Britain already has the largest digital economy in the G20, with the internet responsible for an estimated 12.4% of GDP. But we know there is more to do, which is why we are in the process of hiring 3500 engineers to support us with the roll out of ultrafast fibre to 3 million more people by 2020.”

On the other hand a lot of other technologies, such as Openreach’s rollout of hybrid fibre G.fast to 10 million premises by 2020 and Virgin Media’s Hybrid Fibre Coax (DOCSIS) expansion to another 2 million premises, will also have a positive impact on national performance. Assuming people actually upgrade to all of these new and faster services as otherwise studies like this one won’t spot the improvement.

Now to the results..

UPDATE 11:52am

Added a comment from Gigaclear below.

Mike Surrey, Chief Executive of Gigaclear, said:

“This report demonstrates the consequences of the UK’s slow investment in its digital infrastructure. It’s disappointing to see the UK being slowly pushed further down the charts, not only by fellow European countries, but also other less economically developed nations. Why? Because the UK has simply delayed the roll out of full fibre broadband for too long.

To combat this decline, both the telecoms industry and the government need to prioritise full fibre as the basic standard across the nation in both rural and urban areas. It is clear that the outdated copper infrastructure is slowing us down. So whilst the investment and roll out of full fibre is slowly increasing, more urgency is needed and a comprehensive national plan must be put into action.”